What's the Big Deal?

The Sounders FC television deal will provide fans with season-long coverage.

A true soccer fan will go to great lengths to get his fix.

Some
travel overseas to watch matches. They splurge for the expanded cable
or dish package to see more on TV. As recent days and nights have
demonstrated, they will wake in the middle of the night to view the
action in Beijing.

Hunting for big games goes with the territory. Still, what’s nice
about the Sounders FC television deal, is that just about anyone will
be able to find those Rave Green guys, no questions asked.

All 30 regular season fixtures will be found either on Seattle’s No.
1 station, KING 5, or its sister station, KONG 6/16. The eyes will have
it and the ears will warm to the voice of a trusted friend, Kevin
Calabro.

For any professional sports franchise–never mind a newly-minted one–this is a big deal.

Yet the fans of tomorrow will be most affected by having a steady
diet of soccer served up on channels to which they are already dialed,
so says sports marketing expert Paul Swangard.

Street Cred

The director of the University of Oregon’s Warsaw Sports Marketing
Center, Swangard says that through its broadcasting pact, Sounders FC
achieves near-instant credibility with the man, woman or kid on the
street.

“The team wants to immediately establish itself as a major league
franchise and casual fans typically have a litmus test for that,” says
Swangard. “Media coverage is a key piece of the test.

“Both the broadcast partners and Calabro bring an immediate
legitimacy to the franchise,” adds Swangard. “With consistent coverage
and a well known sports personality in Calabro the team has a better
shot to move fans from being aware the team exists to being interested
in the team.”

Not only will matches be aired live on either KING or KONG, a weekly
show is also in the works, and Sounders FC stories will be seen and
games promoted on KING’s top-rated newscasts, as well as the daily
program Northwest Sports Tonight on both KONG and Belo’s Northwest
Cable News, which is available throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho and
into British Columbia.

Top This

No wonder Tod Leiweke was all smiles at the announcement. Leiweke is
the CEO of Vulcan Sports & Entertainment, the business operator for
Sounders FC. He says he wouldn’t trade this TV deal for any other in
Major League Soccer.

“You have to think that this is the best broadcast deal in the
league, relative to coverage, relative to having some games on the No.
1 station and all of the games available over the air,” says Leiweke.
“The fact that we have Kevin doing the games makes it all the more
impressive. If someone has a better package, I’d like to see it.”

While Vancouver and Portland queue up for expansion teams in 2011,
their soccer community’s appetite will be whetted by look-ins at Xbox
Pitch at Qwest Field.

“The fact that KING and KONG are so well distributed throughout the
Pacific Northwest is fantastic,” Leiweke says. “They’re available in
the eastern part of the state and on some stations up in B.C., and it’s
awesome having a guy like Kevin bringing his enthusiasm and his
passion.”

A Click Away

True, there are several MLS teams which have all 30 matches aired.
Some have far fewer. However most are carried on a combination of cable
stations, dispersed all over the channel grid. KING and KONG are
available over the air as well as cable, one click away from one
another.

The deal calls for pregame and postgame shows, plus the weekly show.
KING sports anchor Paul Silvi, himself a longtime soccer player and
fanatic, will likely serve as host.

Although the program content remains a work in progress, there will
be regular features on players and coaches, both on and off the field,
plus an analysis of the past week’s match and a preview of what’s
coming up.

The Belo-Sounders FC package, wrote SoccerAmerica’s Ridge Mahoney, “is something most teams still haven’t put together after more than a decade of existence.”

Now, Down to Drew

Seattle’s club finds itself already ahead of the game. “The fact
Sounders FC is committing the resources to televise all its games plus
produce a weekly show right out of the box,” says Mahoney, “shows a
keen understanding of what must be done for a professional sports team
to succeed in a major market.”

He adds: “I'm told [minority investor] Drew Carey has some
entertainment experience, so maybe he can audition to host the weekly
show or work the sidelines on the game telecasts. Now, that's
entertainment!”

It could be quite a spectacle. Adrian Hanauer is promising to
compliment Keller with an attack-minded lineup. In the stands (and many
will be standing, mind you) will be some 25,000 noisy, faithful
supporters, Sounders in their own right.

Swangard says a strong start will only swell their ranks.

“I expect Seattle will have a wonderful opening season with fans
embracing the sport in a good soccer market,” he says. “That will
translate into a good product on television which might help entice
that casual fan looking for a new team to root for.”

No subliminal advertising needed. The picture will tell the entire story: Come join the crowd.